THIS WEEKEND
Adam Sandler began what should be a brief five-day stint at number one
with the top spot debut of his latest comedy Mr.
Deeds which grossed $37.2M in its first weekend of release,
according to final studio figures.
Going to town in 3,231 theaters, the Sony release averaged a strong $11,502
per location. Teens and young adults, who have not been specifically targeted
by the recent string of kidpics and action thrillers, were the core audience
for Mr. Deeds.

Long-term strength looks questionable though as the PG-13 film witnessed
a disturbing 9% slide in ticket sales on Saturday. Plus with the studio's
own event pic Men in Black II slated
for a Wednesday launch ahead of the long Fourth of July holiday weekend,
Deeds could fade fast in the weeks
ahead. For Sandler, the Deeds debut
more than doubled the $16.1M opening of his last feature Little
Nicky and came close to the $39.4M bow of 1998's The
Waterboy and the $41.5M launch of 1999's Big
Daddy. Critics slammed Mr. Deeds but
audiences had a good time nonetheless as moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.com
gave the laugher a A- grade.

Steven Spielberg's futuristic cop thriller Minority
Report slid to second place and took in $21.6M in its sophomore
frame. The Tom Cruise vehicle dropped 40% (good for a sci-fi flick) and
has collected $73.4M in ten days. Look for the $102M Fox/DreamWorks co-venture
to find its way to $140-150M.

In third was the Disney animated comedy Lilo
& Stitch which grossed $21.5M in its second weekend. Dropping
a moderate 39%, the PG-rated film pushed its ten-day cume to an impressive
$77.1M. Lilo, with its $80M pricetag,
could find its way to $150-160M.

Scooby Doo fell by half and barked
up another $12.4M pushing the total for the Warner Bros. kidpic to $124M.
Universal's The Bourne Identity dropped
only 26% to $11.2M in its third frame while the Paramount actioner The
Sum of All Fears slid 37% to $4.9M. Totals for the Good
Will Hunting boys stand at $72.9M and $105.4M respectively.

Paramount's latest attempt at transforming a Nickelodeon cartoon series
into a hit feature franchise misfired as Hey Arnold!
The Movie opened to just $5.7M giving it a sixth-place bow.
Playing in 2,527 theaters, the PG-rated toon averaged a disappointing $2,258
per theater. With kids lining up for Lilo &
Stitch and Scooby Doo, there
seemed to be only a small slice of the family audience pie left for Arnold.
Paramount stated that the film cost less than $5M to produce and will perform
better on home video. Previous offerings from the studio based on popular
Nickelodeon shows include 1998's The Rugrats Movie
which debuted with $27.3M and last winter's Jimmy
Neutron: Boy Genius which bowed to $13.8M.

Easing 33% to $4.1M was Divine Secrets of the
Ya-Ya Sisterhood which has banked $55.4M to date. Star
Wars Episode II took in $3.7M, off only 29%, pushing its blockbuster
cume to $286.3M. Rounding out the top ten was the MGM war flick Windtalkers
which tumbled another 47% to $3.5M leaving the Nicolas Cage pic with $33.2M
in 17 days.

Two pics left the top ten over the weekend. In its ninth spin, the megablockbuster
Spider-Man dipped 31% to $3.1M boosting
the Sony release's haul to a towering $395.9M. The final cume for the $125M
pic should reach the vicinity of $405M which makes it the fifth largest-grossing
domestic blockbuster of all time.

The basketball comedy Juwanna Mann
fouled out dropping 52% in its second weekend to $2.6M for a ten-day score
of $10.1M. The Warner Bros. release should end its run with $14-16M.

The top ten films grossed $125.6M which was up 10% from last year when
A.I. opened at number one with $29.4M;
and up a scant 3% from 2000 when The Perfect Storm
debuted in the top spot with $41.3M.

Take this week's NEW Reader
Survey on Men in Black II. In last
week's survey, readers were asked whether Mr.
Deeds would open bigger than Big Daddy's
$41.5M. Of 4,400 responses, 37% said Yes while 63% correctly thought No.

Be sure to check back on Wednesday for a complete summary, including
projections, for next weekend's holiday frame when MIB2,
The Powerpuff Girls, and Like
Mike all open for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

This column is updated three times each week : Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source : Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.